


Oddities

by WarlordFelwinter



Series: Dishonored / Rat Plague Era [1]
Category: Dishonored (Video Games)
Genre: Outsider Perspective, Selectively Mute Corvo, not THE outsider mind you
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-07-17
Updated: 2018-07-17
Packaged: 2019-06-12 01:27:16
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,466
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15328677
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/WarlordFelwinter/pseuds/WarlordFelwinter
Summary: i made a joke post on tumblr about how bizarre corvo must seem to normal people like samuel, so... this is that, basically





	Oddities

Samuel sighed, pulling a flask from his pocket and taking a swig, clearing his throat after the burn of the cheap liquor. It wasn't good by any measure, but with the haphazard way the city guard had taken to disposing of the plague corpses, he was certain the waterways were contaminated. It was safer to drink alcohol. Probably not healthy, but he didn't figure he'd live long enough for it to matter. Especially with the watered down elixir Havelock got for them all. Better than nothing, he said.

That was the best you could do these days. Better than nothing.

He turned and watched a whaling ship trundle past, and he could smell the gore from the bank. The sun was beginning to set and he looked back at the sewer drain, listening. It had been a day or so since the supplies had been left and several hours since the announcements had started ringing over the city about the Lord Protector's escape. He had gotten away from the prison all right, but surely he should have come out of the sewers by now.

Samuel tensed when he heard running footsteps. They slowed as the echoes coalesced into one set, nearing the exit. The old sailor straightened up as a man stumbled out through the cattails. He looked up and met Samuel's gaze, slowing his pace and approaching the boat warily.

"Lord Protector," Samuel greeted. "Good to see you alive. Ready to go?"

Corvo nodded once, terse. He helped push the boat out, though his arms shook. Once they were away from the shore, exhaustion settled in around the Lord Protector. He slumped forward, leaning on his knees, staring vaguely at the water.

Samuel kept quiet for most of the ride. He had only seen Corvo a few times before, at public functions that he watched from a distance. Always a shadow at the Empress' side. Always an air of lethality. Now, after six months of Void knows what in Colridge Prison, he looked more like a drowned rat than a royal bodyguard. He was thin, bruised and battered, and soaked to the skin with sewer water. There were scars on his face, half hidden by unwashed hair. Burns, they looked like. Samuel's stomach turned in disgust at the thought of what the Lord Regent had done to him. Torturing an innocent man. Nevermind the mental shock Corvo had certainly gone through after seeing the Empress die and being unable to protect her.

As they got closer to the Hound Pits, Samuel gave him a bit of an introduction, though he wasn't sure Corvo was listening. The Lord Protector nodded a couple times, but that was all. He seemed unsteady as he got out of the boat and followed Samuel inside, looking like he was about to pass out on the spot. He stood in front of Havelock and Pendleton, with the same vague silence he had given Samuel, and it was again unclear if he could even hear them.

 

* * *

 

 

The Lord Protector slept until the next evening. Not surprising, given all he had been through. Samuel was down at the dock, getting his boat ready to take Corvo to the Abbey, when he spotted the man. He was standing on the roof of the wine cellar, looking at something in his hand. Even at a distance, Samuel could see a change. He held himself differently, looking more like the Lord Protector, rather than the scrawny man that had crawled out of the sewers the day before.

Samuel raised a hand in greeting as Corvo looked over, but Corvo didn't return it. Instead, something strange happened. The air around him warped slightly and then he was gone. Samuel blinked a few times and rubbed at his eyes, but Corvo didn't come back.

"What the…" he muttered, looking down at the bottle he had been drinking from. He shook his head and tossed it away. He needed to be more careful about what he drank.

A few minutes later, Corvo approached him.

"Ready to go pay the High Overseer a visit?" Samuel asked. Corvo nodded and got into the boat with him. He was quiet, still, looking over the mask Piero had made for him. Otherwise, Samuel had to wonder if he was still hallucinating. He knew from experience the amount of good a warm meal and a soft bed could do for a man, but the change in Corvo was something else entirely. He looked well fed and fit again, bruises and scars healed, hair and clothes cleaned of blood and filth. It was… impossible. He looked like he hadn't spent a day in prison, much less six months.

When they arrived at the shore, and Corvo lifted the mask to his face, Samuel saw it—the Mark.

A black brand on the back of Corvo's left hand. It was a symbol Samuel had seen before in pamphlets the Abbey distributed. Guides on heretical artifacts and how to identify a witch. He was certain it hadn't been there yesterday, but it explained how quickly he had healed and recovered.

Corvo put his mask on and listened while Samuel explained the new walls of light and gave a few suggestions on how to get to Holger Square. The Lord Protector gave a curt nod when he finished and turned away, unfolding his blade. The tattoo on his hand flashed briefly with golden light and he slunk off into the cattails. Samuel saw him a moment later, creeping up behind a guard under the bridge, a little surprised when Corvo sheathed his blade and wrapped an arm around the man's throat, rendering him unconscious and lowering him carefully to the ground before continuing on. It was a small thing, but it was strange. With everything that had been taken from him, how much he had been hurt, and the evidence of an otherworldly benefactor, it was surprising—and reassuring, in a way—that he would spare a guard who would just as soon kill him.

 

* * *

 

 

Corvo practically fell into the boat.

Samuel had seen him at the top of the ledge and called up in a whisper that changed to a surprised shout, quickly muffled, when Corvo had flung himself off the ledge, vanishing in midair and reappearing at Samuel's side. He collapsed into the boat, gesturing for Samuel to take them out. As he pulled away from the dock, Corvo ripped his mask off and coughed over the edge, spitting up something strange and glowing. It looked almost like whale oil. He sat back, pulling a glass vial out of his jacket and downing the blue liquid inside. Samuel recognized it as one of Piero's concoctions. As he swallowed, he seemed to relax. He tipped his head back, brushing his hair away from his face.

"Outsider's eyes!" Samuel exclaimed. "Are you okay?"

Corvo looked at him in confusion, before putting a hand to his face. He pulled it away, finding his fingers wet with the same oil he had vomited up. There were tracks of it down his cheeks and on his lips. He rubbed it all away with his sleeve, seeming more annoyed than concerned. He waved Samuel's question away with a dismissive hand.

After a moment of silence, Samuel had to ask. "I seen the way you move… that mark on your hand…"

Corvo looked at him and his face was a perfect mask. Unreadable. Not defensive or apologetic. Simply waiting.

"I ain't one to judge," Samuel said. "Can't say I wouldn't be tempted, if I was up against what you are…"

Corvo shook his head. He moved his hands in a few signs. It was a language Samuel hadn't used in a long time, but Corvo signed slowly enough for him to follow.

 _Not a choice_ , he said.

Samuel frowned. "What do you mean?"

_He gave it to me. I didn't ask. His choice. Not mine._

"Ah. Well… You might wanna keep it a bit more hidden, 'specially if Martin's gonna be around now. You know how those Abbey folk can get."

Corvo nodded.

Samuel squinted at him. "You sure you're all right? That looked… painful."

Corvo shrugged. He seemed unconcerned, so Samuel decided he wouldn't press. He was just an old sailor, it wasn't his place to try and babysit the Lord Protector. He had never much been convinced by the Abbey's vehement hatred of the Outsider and the Void, anyway, though to be fair, he didn't know much about them. What he did know was that people could be cruel with or without magic, and the Overseers were often some of the cruelest. Samuel had met enough people in his life to be able to tell a good man when he saw one, and Corvo was a good man. He wasn't worried.  

**Author's Note:**

> i can't remember where i first saw the idea, but i like the headcanon that corvo suffers some side effects if he tries to use his powers too much when he's low on mana, like the void starts fucking up his insides. it's also just AestheticTM to have his eyes bleeding whale oil


End file.
